Almayo Vinas
Almayo Vinas (マイオヴァンとして, Vinas Arumayō) is an Arrancar in Raian Getsueikirite's Army, and holds the title of Commander of the Exequias. Appearance Almayo is a slender, yet fairly muscular, male Arrancar of decently tall height with a melancholic appearance, fairly tall, long messy red hair, human-like skin, and dark scarlet eyes with slit-shaped pupils similar to a cat's. Part of his bangs falls between his eyes, and he has distinctively thick eyebrows. His facial expression rarely changes, and he is almost always frowning. He wears typical Arrancar clothes: a white jacket, black sash, and a white hakama. However, his jacket seems to have longer coattails than others, and he tends to leave it open to show his bare chest. His hakama was shown to be somewhat similar in appearance to Coyote Starrk. Like most other Arrancar, he possesses remnants of his former life as a Hollow in his appearance; however, his possesses the features of horns atop his head, along with a mask piece over his left eye that is partially cracked. Possibly the most strange thing about Almayo is that unlike all other Arrancar, and even Hollow, he lacks a Hollow hole. Whether this means that he has gone further in Shinigamification than any other Hollow, or he is merely a rare case, is currently unknown. He is the first-ranked Espada, signified by the tattoo on the back of his left palm. Personality Despite the violent and apathetic nature of Arrancar, Almayo is actually one of the calmer of the Raian's Arrancar forces and rarely bickers with them, going as far as to exclude himself from the others during the day-to-day activities and missions. He has a slightly strange sense of humor and has a habit of doing rather odd things for someone of his status, such as joking with his subordinates. Despite this medley of emotional verbal communication, Almayo's voice and facial expression always remain soft and calm, never louder or quieter. Unlike many Hollow and Arrancar, Almayo has also stated that he feels no hatred or condescending feelings towards humans or shinigami. He confesses to Kamui that he merely sees humans and shinigami as nothing more stepping stones for himself, explaining his outright indifference towards them. Even in the middle of intense battle, Almayo often shows a mild compassion toward others, honoring last requests and offering a chance to pray before dying. He is reasonably wise and a skilled rhetorician, though his misguided loyalty for Akujin clouds his greater judgment and leads his arguments in circles. Having had his people stolen from him, Almayo sympathizes with those who care for their loved ones and looks after those who have lost their place in the world. Additionally, despite the distance he persists to create between him and his fellow Arrancar Five, he is very protective of his lower ranked compatriots and takes all their words of chastisement to heart. He refuses to take a life of one who cannot fight back, or is not a target of either orders or personal vendetta. History Plot Powers & Abilities Immense Spiritual Power: As the strongest Exequias in Raian's Army, he possesses tremendous and devastating spiritual power on par with the top five Espada. Almayo is forbidden to release his Zanpakutō inside of Las Noches, as such a release could destroy the fortress. His spiritual energy is bright green. When unleashing his spiritual power, he can actually cause miniscule tears in the space around him, a testament to his innate ability of dimensional distortion and separation. When pointing in a certain direction, he can cause an immense path of spiritual pressure to affect the entire area of which he desires; this hints at his actual level of spiritual power, as when he preformed the motion listed, several of the Captain-level combatants approaching Las Noches were paralyzed in fear, one of them even being forced into a comatose state due to the sheer fear of Almayo's spiritual power. *'Spiritual Rams': In reference to the shape of his mask, Almayo is able to summon a flock of rams, seemingly numbering in the hundreds. The rams are controlled verbally by Almayo and will chase down the enemy with the intent to track with their horns. Upon coming into contact with the enemy or getting close enough, the rams erupt in explosions of varying size and power. They're capable of being very destructive, as when one exploded, it destroyed a large area of Las Noches's towers in a huge column of explosion which dwarfed the surrounding towers. Almayo seems to be able to summon them without limit, thus overwhelming the enemy with their sheer numbers. Renge Yamato remarks that they are like flames, as they reform from any harm done to them (even if they are literally cut into pieces) to continue their attack without pause. Master Swordsmanship Specialist: Almayo has demonstrated immense skill in swordsmanship, being able to fight on even ground with Kamui, one of the most proficient swordsmen in all of Soul Society and all else. He is ambidextrous and can switch his sword from his right to left. He is even capable of defending himself from two Shinigami captains and four Vizard simultaneously. Unusual to many, Almayo seems to utilize his hilt in battle. When at close range, he will switch from blade to butt of the sword, using it in an attempt to close off points in the target's body of where reiatsu is most heavily concentrated. Sonído Master: Almayo has demonstrated incredible speed in battle, initially able to outmaneuver Kamui to the point of forcing him almost completely on the defensive. When moving, he appears to leave behind a trail of blurs between the points of departure and arrival. He was shown to be quick enough to deliver a point-blank Cero to a Captain-level opponent, and dodge an ambush from another Captain-level opponent, all within the very same instant. Cero: Almayo has been shown to charge his Cero using his sword and being able to fire it in a very wide ranging form, following the arc of his subsequent sword swing. Furthermore, he can fire Cero in a similar manner as Seireitou's Shikon Hisakiten; this carries over to the usage and execution as well, allowing Almayo to change the shape, size, density, and even rarely, the color of his Cero. In comparison, Almayo's Cero is stronger than the Espada's released Cero Oscuras, though this may be a speculation as of now. Enhanced Strength: Almayo is shown using his strength to push back Seireitou, albeit in his sealed state, with little effort. He is shown throwing Kamui considerable distance using his own sword that he had grab a hold of during an attack. His kicks are strong enough to strike a opponent with enough force to have them sent flying with enough force to destroy several buildings in the surround area. Unique to him, Almayo can take in spiritual power from the surrounding area, and use it to further increase his strength and hierro. This puts him in a league far above most Arrancar, as they all have a limit to their strength as much as their body can handle, whereas Almayo can continue to increase his strength via reiryoku manipulation. Garganta]: Garganta is how Arrancar move to and from Hueco Mundo. Almayo has the ability to use this technique. It literally tears open the dimensional fabric separating the worlds, revealing a tunnel of whirling, torrential energy that must be focused and solidified to create a discernible pathway. *'Personalized Garganta:' Strangely enough, Almayo has the ability to preform rogue Garganta through sword swings and sweeps. These "rogue Garganta" can act as battering rams in the space they are made in, and sent at. Almayo can even hold the Garganta's position in front of himself to act as a space-distortion shield against both spiritual and physical attacks. Furthermore, he can even form miniature Garganta to act as redirection for missed attacks, or even as a means of sucking in spiritual attacks, rendering them useless. Zanpakutō Los Espacioúnicos (孤立空間 (空の空間次元), ros esupashiōnikos; Spanish for "The Lone Space", Japanese for "Empty Spacial Dimension") is the name of Almayo's Zanpakutō. When sealed as a katana, it's hilt appears lavender in color, with the bottom of the hilt having two small golden chains. The guard has a rather unique appearance, being a nonsymmetrical golden triangle, that is somewhat curved in it's shape. Upon being drawn from it's sheath, the sword emits a static discharge that runs down it's blade. *'Resurrección:' Released by the command, "Renounce" (放棄する, jishu), Almayo's blade will instantly break into two fragments, that soon seep into the ground as they fall. Once inside the ground, Almayo is bathed in an immense column of reiatsu that shoots up into the sky. Almayo's appearance drastically changes; his body is draped with a long black cloak, along with a hood that only allows his face to be seen. His eyes appear lifeless, as they are fully black now. His Hollow Mask has disappeared from it's former location, now being seen as cufflinks around Almayo's wrists, each possessing what appears to be a horn from the complete mask. Almayo no longer possesses a weapon following his release. :Resurrección Special Abilities: Almayo explains that his power is to isolate an area of space-time, being able to actually convert that isolated spot as it's own dimension, with it's own set of physical laws. This seperation is shown with the means of reiatsu cubes of varying shape and size, even color depending on their concentration of reiatsu. Inside these cubes, many different events and results can arise through Almayo's whim. Each of these are whimed by a verbal command, all having their own unique effect. :*'Collapse' (崩壊, tōkai); Almayo can cause the space inside the isolated area to collapse on itself, crushing everything and anything inside it to a singularity. However, those that possess a reiatsu stronger than the reiatsu used in the point of collapse can evade being crushed, and ultimately escape the prison. :*'Expand' (広げる, hidai); Because the isolated spot is it's own dimension, causing the volume within it to expand will cause the particles of those within to also expand, forcing them to be pulled apart. Almayo uses this primarally as a means of torture, but has also seen using this technique on incoming spiritual attacks, splitting their reishi apart and then releasing it back into the atmosphere. :*'Forge' (築く, tai); By forming a thin pole with sharp closed ends of isolated space, Almayo can utilize this as a lance, which can be used for melee attack. Because the strength of this lance is evident by the seperation of two different space-time locations, no normal means of offence can shatter or overpower this lance. :*'Relocate' (移転する, dekata); Anything that is trapped within the isolated space, can be transfered to another area of space-time. The range for this is as large as Almayo's spiritual power extends. He can even surround himself in the isolated space, and actually teleport to other locations at immense speeds. It is because of this technique that Almayo is considered faster than the majority of the Arrancar Five, even Akujin himself. :*'Encase' (包む, seimitsu); Using the isolated space on himself, and by converting it into a humanoid shape, he can create an invincible battle armor, that cannot be penetrated by even the strongest of attacks. However, it appears that this technique drains reiryoku quicker than most of Almayo's other techniques. *'Resurrección: Segunda Etapa' (刀剣解放第二階層 (レスレクシオン・セグンダ・エターパ), resurekushion segunda etāpa; Spanish for "Resurrection Second Stage", Japanese for "Sword's Release: Second Level"): Almayo refers to his second state as "Truth", both before and after its release, because the immensely dense spiritual pressure it releases instills a sense of cruel insight upon those around him. His former black cloak rips from the bottom up, as his hair appears to change colors from striking red to golden blonde. His entire bare chest is visible, and is wearing merely a cloth extending from his obi belt. His eyes have also taken a drastic change, being of goldenrod. His mask remnants have completely disappeared, as he has taken on a complete human-like form. :Segunda Etapa Special Abilities: His second release treats the space that is covered by Almayo's immense reiatsu as an isolated space, keeping others away from the battle that Almayo is fighting. Furthermore, all of the phenomena that he could preform and create in the multiple isolated spaces, are all amplified and usable within the spiritual pressure range. He has displayed strange new abilities, unseen in him before. He can created isolated spaces within the current isolated space, which are used for creating humanoid creatures. However, these beings are not well-made and started to fall apart moments after they were created; merely used as decoys or even as bombs initially. He also seems to have acquired the ability to forcefully suck the souls out of others to replenish his own life and powers. ::Crushing Spiritual Power: Almayo's spiritual power has increased immensely, being able to completely push back Shinigami that are of Captain-level with merely his spiritual pressure. In addition, his already immense spiritual energy has grandly and explosively increased, and now has a deep orange-yellow spiritual energy, almost similar to the color exhibited by Seireitou's Kakuyōyū technique. It has come to a point where the orange-yellow energy emanates off of Almayo's body when his spiritual pressure is exerted, replacing his bright green aura. ::Immense Strength and Durability: Almayo's Segunda Etapa also allows him to further enhance his natural great strength as shown from how effortlessly he blocked a slash from Kamui with his bare hand, despite the former being in his Esalare release. He is strong enough to break through high-level Kidō spells cast by Seijin Masters with relative ease. This new strength allows Almayo to break free from any attack that binds him and prevents him from moving just by releases his spiritual power. Almayo is physically enhanced to the point that he can parry a powerful technique from Kamui effortlessly. ::Hyper-Sonic Speed: Almayo takes all the power of his Resurrección and compresses it into a small, condense form. Then he uses the power of the Segunda Etapa to perform hyper speed combat. His new speed is so great, that it also enhances his Sonìdo prowess and allows him to create dozens of afterimages to confuse his opponent. *'Cero Piadoso' (信心深いゼロ (中空のフラッシュのような神), sero piādoso; Spanish for "Godly Zero", Japanese for "God-like Hollow Flash") is a mighty purplish-black Cero covered in red static discharge, fired by Almayo in his Segunda Etapa. It is formed at Almayo's forehead, and fired as a ball, rather than a beam as most Cero are. When it impacts, it is capable of large-scale destruction; it create an explosion large enough to completely dwarf the entire Seireitei in size. He is able to change the direction of this attack during firing, making it extremely difficult to avoid. Kamui's Esalare form had great difficulty blocking this attack, leaving the Seijin Grandmaster with a broken, burnt arm. Quotes * (To Takashi Sora) "While you spoke of the pride and dignity of Arrancar, when faced with danger, tried to take as a container the very Seijin you looked down upon as inferior beings. You... are hideous." Trivia * Almayo Vinas's name was formed from the last name and first name of two famous Spanish Explorers respectively.